Rick Santorum’s New Pitch To Voters: I Am Good At Some Sports

Rick Santorum has chosen a new strategy in his quest to win the Republican presidential nomination that he cannot mathematically win: Talkin’ sports. You know, shootin’ the shit with his buddies, the voters, about golf, baseball, bowling. Shooting guns. Those sports. He’s very good at them all, just like Vladimir Putin is at fucking tigers or eating tigers or lying about fucking tigers or whatever it is the Russkies do to look kewl. Did you know Santorum hit a golf ball purty good recently? And then also, too, hit a baseball? Can we just make him permanent Emperor of America right now?

The Wall Street Journal reports on this latest tack, in which he plays the high school sports star who never grew up and is now mostly pathetic:

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Rick Santorum has begun bragging about his sporting skills in an effort to connect with Midwestern voters.

He has been telling crowds in Wisconsin that he hit a golf ball 270 yards out and it landed on a floating green in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, last month. “Wow, that’s a really long shot,” he said here..

As for shooting, Mr. Santorum says he put 14 consecutive shots from a revolver on target at a gun range in Louisiana last week. He’s apparently not too bad at baseball either, and he offers a recent video of him taking batting practice at Louisiana State University as proof. “That became a little bit of a YouTube sensation because I was hitting the ball pretty good,” Mr. Santorum said of the video, viewed 22,000 times.

About the author

Jim Newell is Wonkette's beloved Capitol Hill Typing Demon. He joined Wonkette.com in 2007, left for some other dumb job in 2010, and proudly returned in 2012 as our "Senior Editor at Large." He lives in Washington and also writes for things such as The Guardian, the Manchester paper of liberals.

He looks like the kind of sissy that would pull a hamstring playing lawn darts and have to quit.

Terry

Yep, his bragging about sports rings about as true as Mitt admitting he loves him some grits.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

No, I can see Santorum playing some football.

His position? Left out.

SorosBot

Tight end.

HippieEsq

no. Defensive Back. Very defensive, in fact.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Unless it's the Frothy Mix formation, in which case, wide receiver.

Callyson

Or wide receiver.

HippieEsq

Stretching is too much like Yoga and thus clearly will send you straight to hell.

MoeDeLawn

Can't play lawn darts no more. Obama's FEMA troops have confiscated all of 'em.

http://www.wonkette.com/ FlownOver

Aughhh! That pic!

I'm trying to eat breakfast here!

tessiee

What have you got against bike riding kitties?

Callyson

Hey, I'm just glad they didn't run the photo of him in his swimming trunks. I'm still not sure if I will ever be able to have sex again…

tessiee

"Rick Santorum’s New Pitch To Voters: I Am Good At Some Sports"

Yeah — CATCHING!

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

And juggling balls

http://www.kalimao.blogspot.com FROTHY

Only with his chin.

Doktor StrangeZoom

But he is not good at the basketball. We have had QUITE enough of "people who are good at basketball," if you know what I mean.

HippieEsq

At his next campaign stop, Rick will bowl a white ball at black pins.

anniegetyerfun

"Urban" sports don't count.

Baconzgood

Can't go wrong on the interwebz with the kitties.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Needs moar invisible bike

http://www.kalimao.blogspot.com FROTHY

Those childbearing hips ain't doing him no favours. Quit now, Ricky, before you embarrass yourself to deff.

LesBontemps

Can't embarrass a man who has no shame.

prommie

Its funny, isn't it, most fat men, even the ones with huge guts, still have little tiny asses and skinny legs. Its rare to see a man who is big in the hips like Santorum.

Then there is the Christie beast, which is a whole nother realm of things.

http://www.kalimao.blogspot.com FROTHY

VERY rare. Especially here in Ozland where all the men over 30 seem to have enormous beer bellies and stringy little legs.

tessiee

How else could they wear their 30-waist pants from high school, buckled *under* the gut?

http://Wonkette.com DemmeFatale

Ha, ha!
"Childbearing hips!"
Thumbs up for you!

http://www.kalimao.blogspot.com FROTHY

Thank you, but I stole it from someone else – Lizz Winstead, I think, who actually posts here as Barb. (Just kidding)

Barb

“That became a little bit of a YouTube sensation because I was hitting the ball pretty good,”

Hitting the balls with his chin. He's more of a YouTubeSteak sensation.

James Michael Curley

He's a Ball-chinian?

Barb

Good morning, James!
Yes, Rick is.

James Michael Curley

Good morning Barb,
I hope that lucky Jeffer and you had a great 'celebrate the end of recovery from surgery' celebration.

Dashboard Buddha

Maybe he meant Porntube?

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Or YouPorn

Dashboard Buddha

Yeah…that sounds right. I'm not up to date on my Internet pornography distributors.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Also, RedTube.

Not that I personally know, of course. I had to do a little research. For a friend.

Goonemeritus

I only avidly follow luge, I find that being a fan of sports that have competitions more than every four years require a level of commitment I’m uncomfortable with .

BaldarTFlagass

For those of us with adrenaline aversion, curling fits the bill.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

I actually like curling. It's like chess on ice.

OK, maybe hopscotch is more accurate, but still…

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Santorum is a fan of lube.

Gleem McShineys

After all, his name is synonymous with "sliding down chutes"

tessiee

And loogies.

Dashboard Buddha

"I was hitting the ball pretty good"

You were hitting it WELL you fetus helper ignoramus!

tessiee

I think that's intentional fake bad grammar, to go with the fake persona du jour of "Rick the regular guy everyone would enjoy having a beer with", who is definitely not "Rick the creepy weirdo with the face made for punching in".

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

I agree. After all, Rickie puts his pants on one leg at a time, and you can't hit a five run home run.

DaRooster

I call SCIENCE… of werds…

KennyFuckingPowers

Beer Pong Champ. PSU '76

DaRooster

Just don't alude to the "Rooster" aspect and I will live through the weekend…

Thank you.

Baconzgood

You know what Baconz can do? NOT EVER VOTE FOR YOU. No lie, I not ever voted for you a bunch of times.

AbandonHope

Hell, I'm not ever voting for him right now!

Chichikovovich

That was one of my regrets about moving from Pittsburgh. Not voting for Santorum just doesn't bring the same thrill when I'm not also voting for his opponent.

Baconzgood

I'll not vote for him twice for you. He was a congressman in my sisters dist. She hated him.

Chichikovovich

Hey thanks. That will give me a special tingle on primary day. Especially because, now that I think of it, I wasn't a citizen when I lived in Pittsburgh. So this is really, by proxy, the first time Santorum will have been, in my name, not voted for by voting against.I'll try not to get all weepy and embarrass myself when that day comes, but I make no promises.—

BaldarTFlagass

I bet he sucks at frisbee/disc golf and hacky sack.

elviouslyqueer

I bet he sucks at frisbee/disc golf and hacky sack.

Fixed. And I'll take that bet.

http://www.wonkette.com ManchuCandidate

"Santorum speaks for me. You know I once scored four touchdowns in a single game."
-Al Bundy*

*real life Bundys… unlike the actor (Ed O'Neil) who played him who campaigned heavily for the Blah

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

I'd vote for Al Bundy over Rick Santorum

http://facethesuncastnoshadow.wordpress.com/ Mumbletypeg

"Emperor" Santorum, maybe.
Seems like he gets off more on playing Umpire than anything else.

BaldarTFlagass

RE: bowling, golf, softball. If you can drink alcohol while you participate, it's not a sport, it's an activity. Or maybe a hobby.

Dashboard Buddha

That may be the most astute thing I have ever read about sports.

prommie

If you can drink alcohol while you participate, it is an option for me, otherwise, not. Don't forget hunting, and driving. And lawyer-shooting.

Cricketers drink tea. I wonder how that fits in with Baldar's worldview.

http://dismalpseudoscientist.wordpress.com Deportably_Jose

Oh, we frequently had a sidline keg or several, for rugby. But the best, by far, was our coach of one year, who was basically a walking stereotype: he was a short, foul-mouthed briton, who mixed vodka martinis on the sideline during both practice and games, sexually harrassed the women's team and coaches, and regularly brought his mistress with him to games.

Kinda a godawful coach, but quite the character.

doloras

I'm from New Zealand. It's a RELIGION.

chicken_thief

Generally, I agree with that Baldar and in fact have used the same line many times. But there are exceptions – Tommy Kramer in football, Bernard King in basketball. Big time drunks who played "sports".

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Mickey Fucking Mantle

SteveMcCroskey

Can he windsurf, or is that too french?

James Michael Curley

Never has the term Turkey been more appropriately used.

BaldarTFlagass

Needz moar "Now watch this drive."

http://www.wonkette.com ManchuCandidate

I knew a guy who was a crap baseball pitcher
Back in high school
He could throw that gopherball to you
Make him look like a fool boy
Saw him campaigning at this roadside bar
I was walking in, he was talking out
I tried to leave, but he had a few drinks
And all he kept talking about was

Glory days well they'll pass you by
Glory days in the fantasies of Santorum's mind
Glory days, glory days

Grief_Lessons

I was scrolling down to the bottom to add my Glory Days comment only to find that you beat me to it. But you also did it better than I would have, so I don't mind.

Since Obama threw a gutterball in a bowling alley in Altoona, Pa during the 2008 primaries, and since Santorum bowled much better than that, he therefore will be a better president. QED, bitches.

http://dismalpseudoscientist.wordpress.com Deportably_Jose

Simpson/Lebowski 2012!

Baconzgood

"YouTube sensation"

Man what a dweeb. Isn't like Snookie getting punched in the face a YouTube sensation too? And those Sarah Palin singers were a YouTube sensation too also. Not a very high bar to be a "YouTube sensation".

http://www.wonkette.com ManchuCandidate

It's not like Santorum is going to be better than "LeRoy Jenkins" Unlike Ricky Poo, that LeRoy's got some talent.

Barb

Honey badger don't care!

bureaucrap

Almost as prestigious as "World's Best Grandpa".

Laissez_Queer

I'd like to invite Ricky to the St. Louis Pridefest. Once he's spotted we'll see how "good" he sprints.

chicken_thief

He'll be bent over "tying his shoe laces" forever.

chascates

My circle of friends would be more impressed with him shooting dice or throwing knives.

skoalrebel

Fuck all these faggy sports! [spit!] NASCAR is where it's at, libtards! [spit!] And that kitty on a bike pic just makes me wanna scream BALLS!

Baconzgood

NASCAR: America's sport. It's loud, polluted, ads on everything, and it goes around in circles while you wait for somthing to crash.

Dashboard Buddha

Yes ads…especially the Tide and Viagra ads.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

The world's simplest spectator event: you put your car in gear and turn left. Even a redneck can understand that.

http://oliphantparts.org/ natoslug

Just once, they should throw the drivers a curveball and make them drive the course backwards, to see if they can figure out the right turn. Or would that confuse the fans too much?

bureaucrap

"Let's talk about March Madness. Please don't bring up that your kids have worn through their last pair of jeans, that you've been out of work for three years or that your wife can't get treatment for her diabetes. I just don't care about that s**t."

tessiee

Stealing Mitt's lines, eh?

mavenmaven

He's just a regular guy! A regular member of the he-man-woman-hater's club.

LesBontemps

the video, viewed 22,000 times

18,000 times by Rick, twice by his wife and 3,998 times by Newt Gingrich saying "I can't believe I'm losing to that schmuck."

Oh that was so wrong, tessiee. An unwelcome reminder that it's a well known fact — well-known, I say! — that fecal matter has been found to such a degree of buildup in those finger-holes at your typical bowling establishments? that for this reason among others I broke down and got my own. With custom drilled holes. (My game has not improved, however.)

tessiee

Hell, I'm grossed out on a plane ride when they want you to pay $3 extra for headphones (for a movie I have no interest in watching ANYway), that have god knows what kind of ear cheese on them from everybody else who used them.

metamarcisf

Denver is looking for a backup Christian quarterback,

Barb

In order to win the Superbowl, Denver sacrificed a virgin. Bye Tim!

LesBontemps

Shorter Rick: "Hey, you guys! Pick me for your team! Pick me!"

YasserArraFeck

Any sport where you get to play with big balls and insert your fingers into holes is A-OK with Rick

Baconzgood

YouTube? Is that some sort of rip off of YouPorn?

Naked_Bunny

Yes, but most of the nudity involves cats.

IncenseDebate

You know who else liked balls in their hands every so often?

Naked_Bunny

Everyone reading this, I'd imagine.

http://www.wonkette.com ManchuCandidate

It's not Hitler. He only played with one ball.

http://www.kalimao.blogspot.com FROTHY

To the tune of Colonel Bogey's March.

Limeylizzie

That's correct, Frothy, best line, that used to make me howl with laughter as a teen…"Himmler was very simmler, but poor old Goebbels had no balls at all."

horsedreamer_1

Jim Sorgi?

chicken_thief

The MM's? Marilyn Monroe and Mary Magdelene?

elviouslyqueer

Tim Tebow?

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

I'm touching mine right now!

tessiee

Drew Barrymore?

tessiee

Sheryl Crow?

ChernobylSoup

You know what Obama can brag about? Being the President.

http://www.wonkette.com ManchuCandidate

"Unlike Ricky Poo, I was great (I think I was the greatest unlike that fat fuck Babe Ruth who got all the fucking attention) at one sport. I could be Preznit because I'm still not as big an asshole as Santorum"
-Ty Cobb; noted racist, psychopath, killer, all round mega asshole

Now all he has to do is team up with some over-eager, purple-haired bit of jailbait and he can go on to save LazyTown!

Beetagger

I'd like to whip a dodgeball at his head and make him cry.

http://wonkette.com/ starfanglednut

Santorum riding a bike looks like such a pussy.

anniegetyerfun

Puss riding libel! (I'm not sure if I did that right)

V572 Hogan Gidley

Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom libel!

not that Dewey

“You’re not gonna use the pink ball. We’re not gonna let you do that. Not on camera,” [Santorum] said.

Guppy

"I'm insecure about my masculinity and so can you!"

clblabin

Yes, under President Santorum, blue balls will be mandatory for all.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Gee, a Catlick from Pennsylvania knows how to bowl.

Film at eleven.

Why, I bet he's a Steelers fan, too.

Terry

My Pennsylvania relatives continually point out that they threw this guy out of office by an 18% margin and wonder why anyone is taking him seriously.

http://loljazzcatz.blogspot.com/ Chet Kincaid

After his campaign finally crashes, he'll be challenging Maria Sharapova to "The Battle Of The Sexes II," to prove that Man is the head of woman, just like Christ is the head of the Church and Priests are the head of altar boy.

She will of course break his ankles like twigs with a vicious backhand in 30 seconds.

http://simplyleftbehind.blogspot.com/ actor212

Sharapova?

Fuck, Kournikova could whip his ass and she couldn't play for shit.

I wish she'd whip mine, in fact.

http://loljazzcatz.blogspot.com/ Chet Kincaid

You are right, Kournikova would be more appropriate in this scenario. However, Sharapova's long, lean thighs were wrapped around my face in my imagination when I thought of this, so…

Dashboard Buddha

Emperor? Can't we just make him Kingpin?

OneYieldRegular

It's not a YouTube "sensation" if you watch your own video 21,986 times.

DaRooster

Hell if we could upfist ourselves endlessly, I would be the biggest hit ever… 'cuz I'm awesome… like Ricky.

Dashboard Buddha

I wonder how well he would be at dodgeball?

DaRooster

I'm in… can we play with baseballs? Croquet balls?

Dashboard Buddha

I was thinking cannonballs, but yeah, we can start small.—

chascates

OJ Simpson is also good at sports.

stncmchnc

But even better at finding the real killer.

JackDempsey1

How is he at America's game, shuffleboard?
Colored circles sliding across numbered triangles!!!
The thrill is positively Euclidean.

tessiee

That's a sport for old Italian guys on Sunday afternoons.
Rick is too young.
Also, the 80 year old guys at the park would kick his ass.

horsedreamer_1

Golf? While the economy struggles?

Is Ricky, as an Italian-Amerian, dark enough to be proscribed from the course?

jfruh

Many moons ago I went to the Congressional Baseball Game with Pareene and got a picture of Santorum in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform (they make all the Congresspeople wear the uniforms of their hometown teams, for humiliation). His droopy ass is showcased prominently. For the right price, I will not make this picture public.

elviouslyqueer

Oh c'mon, Josh, post away. As a service to mankind, and all that shit.

joobajooba

>>He has been telling crowds in Wisconsin that he hit a golf ball 270 yards out and it landed on a floating green in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, last month. <<

But Kim Jong-il got 11 holes in one his first time out.

chicken_thief

Unless he did the 270 yr drive with an iron, meh. I know plenty of guys who can't break 110 who hit 300 yr drives.

Naked_Bunny

I want to see his prowess at Catapult Bowling Dodgeball.

chicken_thief

Anyone who launches the ball from three feet away from the foul line isn't much of a bowler, Ricky. Jes sayin….

anniegetyerfun

Funny, I sort of imagined Rick as being really good at rollerblading. Well, not good, but prone to getting all the gear and spandex shorts and TRYING to be good.

tessiee

For making all of us picture Rick in spandex bike shorts, you must go sit in your time-out chair while the rest of us eat pizza and drink beer and go bowling (in that order).

As for shooting, Mr. Santorum says he put 14 consecutive shots from a revolver on target at a gun range in Louisiana last week.

Dr. Freud? There's an overcompensation victim on Line One for you. Says it's an emergency.

DaRooster

“That became a little bit of a YouTube sensation because I was hitting the ball pretty good,” Mr. Santorum said of the video, viewed 22,000 times.

So that's where his kids have been… clicking the YouTubes.

bellybones

Not to be too geeky about this, but I call bullshit on the 270-yard tee shot. There is NO WAY a par 3 golf hole would be set at that length. None, Zero. I think most pros would have trouble holding a shot on a green that had traveled 270 yards.

Rayn_And

Note to self: Add "Peaked In High School" to list of desired presidential characteristics.

DaRooster

Uh Rick… so you can hit batting practice?
Grab your glove… I'm gonna hit you some grounders, go stand on the mound.

tessiee

That'll be the first mound he's seen in years.

DaRooster

Too many kids… don't tell about the artificial insemination….

Go JIZZ!! SWIM BABY SWIM!!

AddHomonym

I've got it! Rick challenges Mitt to a small varmint shoot for all the delegateses! Hunting's a sport, right?

docterry6973

Obama 1 on 1 first to 15 or GTFO.

ChrisM2011

I also plays a mean game of Mario Kart….7 even!

larrykat

Also a standout at pitching and catching.

Gopherit

Hey, Rick! Did you know that Mittens knows people who own baseball teams? What I am trying to say is he can buy and sell you. You can't win, and we all hate you, but it's fun to watch you annoy him. Carry on.

kissawookiee

As for shooting, Mr. Santorum says he put 14 consecutive shots from a revolver on target at a gun range in Louisiana last week.

Ricky then moved from hitting the broad side of the barn to hitting a cow in the tit with a tin cup.

owhatever

Get him the GOP nomination and he and Barry can settle it all on the court in a one-on-one hoops game. Oh, heck, put Barry out there on his own against a team of all four Republicans and he'd whip their butts without breaking a sweat.

Lazy Media

Well, if coach woulda put Rick in fourth quarter, they’d have been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind. You better believe things had been different. He’d have gone pro in a heartbeat. He’d be making millions of dollars and living in a big ol’ mansion somewhere, soaking it up in a hot tub with his soul mate.

ttommyunger

Well, that certainly settles that! President Santorum it is! (convulses in laughter)

Slim_Pickins

Golf at an Idaho ski resort in February? Right. The shot may have skittered across the ice, if there was a shot.

Nowisallthereis

Oh Ricky. You are so mass queue line. I am all a-swoon.

sezme

Unless he get as many holes-in-one as Kim Jong Il, he's still a failure.

WonkCynic

This dude is the reason I didn't bother voting at all during my five years living in PA.